The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-07-20
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: Holding the Rope
preached at Martha's
Fineyard.)

,.vas let do,r,, by the aOoH"-II Cor. Ii, SO.
Sermons on Paul in Jail, Paul on Mars Hill,
Paul in shipwreck, Paul before the Sanhedrim,
Paul before Felix are plentiful, but in my
text we have Paul in basket Damascus Is
q city Of white and glistening architecture,
sometimes called ''the eye of the East" some.
times called pearl surrounded by emeralds," ,"
at one time distinguished for swords OF
the best material, called Damascus blades
and upholstery of richest fabric called
damasES. A horseman by the name OF
Saul, riding toward this city, had been
thrown from the saddle The horse had
dropped under flash from the sky, which
at the same time was so bright it blinded
the rider for many days, and, think, SO per
manently injured his eyesight that this defect
of vision became the thorn in the flesh he
afterward speaks of. He started for Damas-
Gus to butcher Christians, but after that hard
fall from his horse he was changed man
and preached Christ in Damascus till the city
was shaken to its foundation.
The Mayor gives authority for his arrest,
and the popular cry is Kill him! hill him"
The city is surrounded by a high wall and the
gates are watched by the police lest the
Cicilian preacher escape Many of the houses
were built on the wall and their balconies pro-
jected clear over and lowered above the gar
denS outside. It was customary to lower pas
kets out of these balconies and pull up fruits
visitors at the monastery at Mount Sinai are
lifted and let down in baskets. Detectives
prowled around from house to house looking
for Paul but his friends hid him, now in one
place, now in another. He is no coward,
as fifty incidents in his life de-
monstrates. But he feels his work
IS not done yet, and so he evades assassina-
ton. "Is that preacher here!" the foam
ing mob shout at one house door. " Is that
fanatic here ?" the police shout at another
house door. Sometimes on the street incog-
nito he passes through a crowd Of clenched
fists and sometimes he secreteS himself on
. the housetops. At last the infuriated
populace get on sure track of him They
have positive evidence that he is in the
of whose home reaches over the wall.
"Here he is! Here he is" The
vociferation and blasphemy and bowling Of
the pursuers are at the front door. They break
in. "Fetch out that gospelizer, and let us
hang his head on the city gate. Where's he"
The emergency was terrible. Providentially
there was good stout basket in the house.
Paul steps into it. The basket is lifted to the
edge of the balcony on the wall, and then
while Paul holds on to the rope with both
hands, his friends lower away, carefully and
cautiously, slowly but surely, further down
and further down, until the basket strikes
the earth and the apostle steps out, and afoot
and alone starts on that famous missionary
tour, the story of which has astonished earth
and heaven. Appropriate entry in ,Pauls
diary of travels: Through window in a
basket was let down by the wall"
Observe, first, on what slender tenure
great results hang The ropemaker who
twisted that cord fastened to that lowering
basket never knew how much would depend
upon the strength of it. How If it had been
broken and the apostles life had been dashed
out? What would have become of the Chris
tian church2 All that magnificent mission
ary work in Pamphilia. Cappadocia, Galatia,
Macedonia would never have been accom-
phshel AL his writings that make up so
Indispensable and enchanting part of the
New Testament would never have been writ
ten. The story of resurrection would never
have been so gloriously told as he told it.
That example of heroic and triumphant
endurance at Philippi in the Mediterranean
Euroclydon, under f1agelation and at his
beheading, would not have kindled the
courage of ten thousand martyrdoms But
that rope holding that basket, how much de-
pended on it! So, again and again, great
results have hung on what seemed slender
circumstances.
Did ever ship of many thousand tons cross
ing the sea have such important passenger as
had once boat Of leaves from taffrail to
stern, only three or four feet, the vessel made
waterproof by a coat of bitumen, and float
ing on the Nile with the infant lawgiver of the
Jews on board? What if some crocodile
should crunch it? What if some of the cattle
wading in for drink should sink it? VeSse.s
OF war sometimes carry forty guns looking
through the port holes, ready to open battle.
But that tiny craft on the Nile seems to be
armed with all the guns of thunder that bom-
barded Sinai at the lawgiving. On how
fragile craft sailed how much historical inn
portance!
The parsonage at Epworth, England, is
on fire i'll the night, and the father rushed
through the hallway for the rescue of his
children. Seven children are out and safe on
the ground, but one remains in the consuming
building. That one wakes, and finding his
bed on fire and the building crnmbling, comes
to the window, and two peasants make lad
der Of their bodies, one peasant standing on
the shoulder Of the other, and down the hui
man ladder the boy dscends-John Wesley.
If you would know how much depended on
that ladder Of peasants, ask the millions Of
Methodists on both sides of the sea. Ask
their mission stations all around the world
Ask their hundreds Of thousands already as
cended to join their founder, who would have
perished but far the living stairs of peasants
shoulders.
An English ship stopped at Pitcairn Island
and right in the midst Of surroundig cannl,
balism and squalor the passengers discovered
q Christian colony of churches and schools
and beautiful homes and highest style Of rellg-
ion and civilization. For fifty years no ms
sionary and no Christian influence had landed
there Why this oasis of light amid a desert
of heathendom? Sixty years before ship
had met disaster and one Of the sailors, un-
able to save anything else went to his
trunk and took out Bible which
his mother had placed there and swan
ashore, the Bible held in his teeth. The book
was read on all sides until the rough and
vicious population were evangelical, and
church was started and an enlightened COM
monwealth established, and the worlds
history has no more brilliant page than that
which tells of the transformation of a nation
by one book 1t did not seem of much
importance whether the sailor continued to
hold the book in his teeth or let it fall in the
breakers, but upon what small circumstance
depended what mighty results!
Practical inference: There are no insig-
uifcances in our lives The minutest thing is
part of a magnitude. Infinity is made up of
fnfnitesimalS. Great things an aggregation
of small things. Bethlehem manger pulling
on star in the eastern sky. One book IN a
drenched sailors mouth the evangellZatlon
of multitude One boat of papyrus ON the
Nile freighted with events for all ages. The
fate of Christendom in basket let down
from a window on the wall. What you DO,
do well. If you make rope make 1t strong
and true, for you know not now muGa
may depend on your workmanship. II
YOU fashion boat let it be WATERPROOF,
for you know not who may sail in 1t.
you put Bible in the trunk Of your boy as
he goes from home, let it be heard In your
prayers for il NAV have q mission as tar